"Rose Melody" by Lynda Cookson

Okay so I may have told a little porky last time. I said "back to oils" ... but I still have this compulsion to tackle watercolour, with the added inspiration that my four climbing roses have started to blossom in profusion. Who can resist roses?!

I must say I find them extremely difficult to paint but hopefully by the end of summer, having tackled a rose painting as often as I can - in both watercolour and oils - perhaps it won't be so bad.

It's amazing how many petals roses have. When you're trying to sketch or paint a full blown rose the eye tends to get mixed up as to which petal you have just put in place and which one folds in or under the next!

Colour is another challenge because no roses seem to be the same colour as the paints I possess. I've never been one for colour mixing and prefer to put pure colour next to or on top of another pure colour to see what magic they can perform. With watercolour this is very different to working with oils.

And so I continue to battle on! LOL

"Rose Melody" by Lynda Cookson

My art website : https://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr

The ePlan : https://onlinepresenceassistant.blogspot.com/

Back to oils for a while

My website is now revamped and up and running (smoothly, I hope!). You can find it here and I'd really appreciate comments on how you think it looks and works. Please and thanks :-)

Wild Summers. The Art of Lynda Cookson : https://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr

In the background I continue to wrestle with watercolour as a medium but for now, I'm heading back to oils.

I have a commission to paint the home of my Loney ancestors who used to live in St Martins, St Peter Port, Guernsey and will be getting on to that this week. This is the beautiful farm house, known to be dated back at least as far as the early 1400s when it could have been the Pastor's house.

There's another house in St Peter Port my ancestors occupied and it's evidently the most haunted house in Guernsey. The house, on Tower Hill, sits a the junction where the road splits into two and is one of those which has a skinny end wall. It was against this end wall where witches were burned at the stake! Plenty of witchy ghosts abound.

Right opposite the house is The Cornerstone Pub, the favourite haunt of Victor Hugo in his time living on Guernsey. We had a snack and a beer there but he didn't grace my ear with any ghostly literary hints I'm afraid.

I've promised a charcoal drawing of the family house as well, so expect messy black fingerprints on my next blog post! All will be posted up here when I'm good and ready.

In the meantime ....

"Henry" by Lynda Cookson

My art website : https://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr

The ePlan : https://onlinepresenceassistant.blogspot.fr/

The story of "Lone Tree" by Lynda Cookson

A funny thing happened with this little watercolour called "Lone Tree".

I'm using up old pieces of watercolour paper which belonged to my Mum way back when, and I mean really way back when. She probably bought the paper close to 25 years ago. I've been trying out different brush stroke techniques and this piece of paper took the paint in different ways. I liked it so I left it. There's a block to the left of centre in the blue sky where the paint took smoothly. For the rest of it, "it blotched". The effect was to make a simple brush stroke more interesting ... with a hint of weather.

I used a wet on dry technique and the paper seemed to be very absorbent either side of the oblong shape where the paper allowed the paint to be brushed on smoothly.

"Lone Tree" by Lynda Cookson

My art site : https://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr

The ePlan website : https://onlinepresenceassistant.blogspot.fr/

Harriet

I'd like to introduce you to Harriet. She just popped up from nowhere on a sunny day with a secretive little smile on her face.

"Harriet" is a watercolour on paper measuring 4" x 6" (10 x 15 cm)

I'm beginning to learn a bit about which type of watercolour paper I prefer to use, how much water is good or bad on my brush, which size brush is best for what ... and just generally what comes naturally with a bit of practise.

There's been a lot of moving the studio (grand word for a little space!) around so that I'm comfortable and not tripping anyone up with the extended legs of my easel. The palette of watercolour paints has now found it's place at the top of my easel and a shelf has been cleared for water and brushes. I need a safe place for the water because I'm a real klutz and knock and drop things very easily indeed.

Now, with a swivel of my chair, I can be at my computer keyboard, be oil painting or glass painting on my table, or be watercolour painting at my easel. And there's still space for Bridie the German Shepherd under my table. Voila!

"Harriet" by Lynda Cookson

My art website  :  https://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr/

The ePlan website  :  https://onlinepresenceassistant.blogspot.fr/

"African Mood" by Lynda Cookson

After my 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge my studio space got a little messy, so a tidy-up was necessary. I found a few bits 'n bobs - as you do - and here's one of them.

It's probably my second or third watercolour painting from way back in 1998 or 1999 while I was still living not too far from Cape Town in a little village called Greyton.

"African Mood"
Watercolour on Paper
Approx. 10" x 8" (20 cm x 26 cm)

"African Mood" by Lynda Cookson

My new business website : https://onlinepresenceassistant.blogspot.fr/

"Ruin in Connemara" by Lynda Cookson

This is my second attempt at the same watercolour theme where I tried to be more controlled ... and I think I like the other one better! Ce la vie!

While editing the image I tried to Auto Color facility and preferred that too. I've included that image too below and it is the one with darker and more rich colours.

Painting no. 23 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
"Ruin in Connemara"
Watercolour on Paper
10" x 14" (26 cm x 36 cm)

"Ruin in Connemara" unedited 

"Ruin in Connemara" using the Auto Color facility

My website : http://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr/p/30-paintings-in-30-days-challenge.html

"Cottage in the Hills" by Lynda Cookson

This was a double challenge for me - watercolour is always a challenge and "Cottage in the Hills" is Painting no. 22 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.

Inspired by my years living in Connemara, Ireland :

"Cottage in the Hills"
Watercolour on Paper
10" x 14" (25 cm x 36 cm)

"Cottage in the Hills" by Lynda Cookson

All paintings in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge are for sale here :

http://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr/p/30-paintings-in-30-days-challenge.html

"Tall Pot of Geraniums"

Painting No. 16 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Tall Pot of Geraniums"
Watercolour on Paper
11" x 7" (28 cm x 18 cm) approx.

"Tall Pot of Geraniums" by Lynda Cookson

My website : http://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr

"A Deep Message"

Painting no. 14 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"A Deep Message"

Watercolour on Yupo Paper

8" x 12" (20 cm x 30 cm)

As you can see LOL this is my first time using watercolor on Yupo Paper and there's a lot of work to be done there!!

"A Deep Message"

My website : http://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr

"Big White Flowers"

Painting No. 10 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Big White Flowers"
Watercolour and Pencil on Paper
11" x 8" (28 cm x 20 cm)

"Big White Flowers"

My website : http://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr

"Damara Dik Dik"

Painting No. 9 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Damara Dik Dik" (A small buck with large ears found in South Africa)
Watercolour on Paper
11" x 7" (28 cm x 18 cm)

"Damara Dik Dik"

My website : http://lyndacookson.blogspot.fr